NORTH SHORE KNEEBOARD GATHERING 2005
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stevea
- Ripper (more than 100 posts)
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05 kb gathering
just so stoked to see every thing going on on the north shore but glad i stayed in bali where i dont feel my age hawaii 10ft plus sunset is no place for me ulu watu temples at 6-8 is just about my limit congratulation to those who charged simon n parkes are no surprise be interesting to know how many life changing experiences occurred over the month my bet there were many keep charging congrats bud maybe one day there will be an indo encounter
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Cripple Crusader
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Quicktime Slide shows of some sequences are up on the UK site:
http://www.kneeboardsurfing.co.uk
2 great barrels of Simon (these are back-to-back waves) making it look oh-so-easy
one of Barry's cracking Backyard barrels
http://www.kneeboardsurfing.co.uk
2 great barrels of Simon (these are back-to-back waves) making it look oh-so-easy
one of Barry's cracking Backyard barrels
On your knees, if you please
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Scott
- Legend (Contribution King!)
- Posts: 1244
- Joined: Mon Mar 10, 2003 5:36 pm
- Location: San Jose, CA
Another Journal Entry
Day Four and Five:
The swell jacked right on schedule Sunday night and by Monday (President’s Day) Sunset is 10-15’. A lot of guys head off to one of the breaks not far from Kaena Point, and soon it’s Simon, Lerner, Baker, Ward, Crawford, Shinbara and others all making the long paddle to the distant reef. Glassy, light offshores, sunny—just perfect conditions! The wave is tricky, breaking both right and left, moving in and out, with some massive sneaker sets (Baker and Shinbara quickly are cleaned up by one of those 15 footers, and they were pretty far outside to begin with!). Most of the waves are only semi-hollow with some occasional gaping tubes, but the power in the whitewater is real—getting caught inside offers a memorable beating. The lefts feature a nice paddling channel, the rights feature a great chance of getting cleaned up by the wave behind it. I hang on the rights and pay the price dearly twice when, after taking one of the early waves of a set, I’m hopelessly pinned inside by wave after battering wave. 90 minutes later I head in and grab my water camera and snap a few from the channel of those remaining to surf the lefts. Kyle Ward has already gone in after having his new board snapped!
Later in the days the crowd at Sunset seems manageable (25+ guys). I first check out some of the breaks and the great family beaches around the tip of the east side, near Laie. By the time I come back to Sunset (it’s just perfect and big!) and paddle out for the last two hours of light, the lineup has grown to 65 guys, including a number of pros whose contest at Pipeline was placed on hold. I see some kneelo get a screaming wave but I can’t make out who it is from the beach and am not able to locate him in the water when I join the spread out lineup. I can usually get waves anywhere, but not on this day with this crowd. With three strong surfers or more (many on 10-11’ boards) paddling for every wave, I just can’t seem to get close to scoring. I feel forced to dart further inside and deeper into the impact zone to try to get something. Sure enough, a massive set reels in and I take anothe severe beating, getting pushed in ever closer on the reef. Fortunately, I manage to drift over the reef without getting slammed into it and, except for being winded from such long hold-downs, my board and I survive. Panting on the beach, I see that same kneelo gets another great wave (who is that?!).
As I walk back up to the beach house, it’s evident the left at Backyards is really coming alive. Baker and Lerner are on it (they’re on everything!), and Ivan is filming from the beach. I join them in the water. Yes, I got cleaned up severely twice more. This day will go down as a some sort of a record for futility for me; I think I spent more time getting dishragged 8’ down than I did actually riding waves—well, it is helping me get into shape, that’s for sure. Both Barry and Dave get awesome waves in each direction, and I finally got a few of my own: about 8’, glassy and sooooo fast. Classic Hawaiian perfection. Lots of expectations for tomorrow.
Day five starts with a first light check out of the surf at Sunset. It’s still going off BIG but with fewer guys now. I am joined by Dave Lerner, always up for a challenge. Though it’s tough to compete with the outer group of guys on their monster long boards we each snag a few of the more tame waves that get through them. Sunset is just the most amazing big wave, so thick, covering so much ground, full of shifting bowls and fierce lip pitches. It's a privilege just be out there, and everyone in the water seems to know what they're doing. I'm used to about a third of the surfers out not being very confident, but not at many of the epic spots on the North Shore. In a switch, it turns out Simon was filming on the beach to see if we could score anything epic. After an hour or so we came in as the rest of the crew hanging around Bud’s house was contemplating when to surf Backyards. I snuck off for another short session at Haleiwa. Beautiful, fast waves but, again, plenty-plenty guys. Everyone is on this swell! Back at Buds, I had an interesting discussion with Baden about his 7’2” and 8’2” he keeps for really big waves. “Oh, that’s right,” says I, “you need an 8 footer for such large waves because you don’t use flippers.” “No!” he replies, “I do use flippers on big waves like those—I need the length to smooth out all the bump.” I’m left pondering the challenges fin-kicking such a long board, while he grabs his 7’2” and paddles out to an improving Backyards. I had a lot of fun filming him, Red, Simon, Crawford, Ward, Shinbara and others. Newly arrived Jeff Martinez from way-northern California gets a ton of waves and really shows some speed on the lefts. Simon is…well, he’s just Simon, going hard off the bottom and top, breaking out his fin into a drift, while others are running full speed just to make the wave. The frame grabs will be great when I post them after returning to San Jose.
The whole time out at Backyards, some stand-up haole is evidently continually cussing and whining about all the f***ing kneeboarders out in the lineup day after day, when are they finally going to go home, how they shouldn’t be paddling for the sets, etc. He’s roundly ignored, but his bad vibe still floats around the lineup.
Back in Honolulu now to see my wife and friends for a day or so. I hope to return to the North Shore on Thursday.
I just saw all your shots, Don--great work!
The swell jacked right on schedule Sunday night and by Monday (President’s Day) Sunset is 10-15’. A lot of guys head off to one of the breaks not far from Kaena Point, and soon it’s Simon, Lerner, Baker, Ward, Crawford, Shinbara and others all making the long paddle to the distant reef. Glassy, light offshores, sunny—just perfect conditions! The wave is tricky, breaking both right and left, moving in and out, with some massive sneaker sets (Baker and Shinbara quickly are cleaned up by one of those 15 footers, and they were pretty far outside to begin with!). Most of the waves are only semi-hollow with some occasional gaping tubes, but the power in the whitewater is real—getting caught inside offers a memorable beating. The lefts feature a nice paddling channel, the rights feature a great chance of getting cleaned up by the wave behind it. I hang on the rights and pay the price dearly twice when, after taking one of the early waves of a set, I’m hopelessly pinned inside by wave after battering wave. 90 minutes later I head in and grab my water camera and snap a few from the channel of those remaining to surf the lefts. Kyle Ward has already gone in after having his new board snapped!
Later in the days the crowd at Sunset seems manageable (25+ guys). I first check out some of the breaks and the great family beaches around the tip of the east side, near Laie. By the time I come back to Sunset (it’s just perfect and big!) and paddle out for the last two hours of light, the lineup has grown to 65 guys, including a number of pros whose contest at Pipeline was placed on hold. I see some kneelo get a screaming wave but I can’t make out who it is from the beach and am not able to locate him in the water when I join the spread out lineup. I can usually get waves anywhere, but not on this day with this crowd. With three strong surfers or more (many on 10-11’ boards) paddling for every wave, I just can’t seem to get close to scoring. I feel forced to dart further inside and deeper into the impact zone to try to get something. Sure enough, a massive set reels in and I take anothe severe beating, getting pushed in ever closer on the reef. Fortunately, I manage to drift over the reef without getting slammed into it and, except for being winded from such long hold-downs, my board and I survive. Panting on the beach, I see that same kneelo gets another great wave (who is that?!).
As I walk back up to the beach house, it’s evident the left at Backyards is really coming alive. Baker and Lerner are on it (they’re on everything!), and Ivan is filming from the beach. I join them in the water. Yes, I got cleaned up severely twice more. This day will go down as a some sort of a record for futility for me; I think I spent more time getting dishragged 8’ down than I did actually riding waves—well, it is helping me get into shape, that’s for sure. Both Barry and Dave get awesome waves in each direction, and I finally got a few of my own: about 8’, glassy and sooooo fast. Classic Hawaiian perfection. Lots of expectations for tomorrow.
Day five starts with a first light check out of the surf at Sunset. It’s still going off BIG but with fewer guys now. I am joined by Dave Lerner, always up for a challenge. Though it’s tough to compete with the outer group of guys on their monster long boards we each snag a few of the more tame waves that get through them. Sunset is just the most amazing big wave, so thick, covering so much ground, full of shifting bowls and fierce lip pitches. It's a privilege just be out there, and everyone in the water seems to know what they're doing. I'm used to about a third of the surfers out not being very confident, but not at many of the epic spots on the North Shore. In a switch, it turns out Simon was filming on the beach to see if we could score anything epic. After an hour or so we came in as the rest of the crew hanging around Bud’s house was contemplating when to surf Backyards. I snuck off for another short session at Haleiwa. Beautiful, fast waves but, again, plenty-plenty guys. Everyone is on this swell! Back at Buds, I had an interesting discussion with Baden about his 7’2” and 8’2” he keeps for really big waves. “Oh, that’s right,” says I, “you need an 8 footer for such large waves because you don’t use flippers.” “No!” he replies, “I do use flippers on big waves like those—I need the length to smooth out all the bump.” I’m left pondering the challenges fin-kicking such a long board, while he grabs his 7’2” and paddles out to an improving Backyards. I had a lot of fun filming him, Red, Simon, Crawford, Ward, Shinbara and others. Newly arrived Jeff Martinez from way-northern California gets a ton of waves and really shows some speed on the lefts. Simon is…well, he’s just Simon, going hard off the bottom and top, breaking out his fin into a drift, while others are running full speed just to make the wave. The frame grabs will be great when I post them after returning to San Jose.
The whole time out at Backyards, some stand-up haole is evidently continually cussing and whining about all the f***ing kneeboarders out in the lineup day after day, when are they finally going to go home, how they shouldn’t be paddling for the sets, etc. He’s roundly ignored, but his bad vibe still floats around the lineup.
Back in Honolulu now to see my wife and friends for a day or so. I hope to return to the North Shore on Thursday.
I just saw all your shots, Don--great work!
Last edited by Scott on Tue Feb 22, 2005 8:10 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Man O' War
- Legend (Contribution King!)
- Posts: 555
- Joined: Tue Apr 15, 2003 9:57 pm
- Location: Miami FL
Grateful
Scott,
Thanks for the detailed report, a shot in the arm for those of us living mortal lives outside Paradise, all except the hold-downs and rag-dolling. Better times will come. Hang in there. Eventually, God feels sorry for old guys.
Thanks for the detailed report, a shot in the arm for those of us living mortal lives outside Paradise, all except the hold-downs and rag-dolling. Better times will come. Hang in there. Eventually, God feels sorry for old guys.
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scoop
- Legend (Contribution King!)
- Posts: 579
- Joined: Wed Jun 11, 2003 10:29 pm
- Location: freshwater beach...(Sydney) AUST
nsg
Hey a HUGE THANK YOU to Bud for putting on a great "get to gether" for us Kneelo folk..... To Red, Japanmike, Cripple Crusader and Iron Mike THANK YOU all for the great times we all had....To all the guys and girlz that I reaquanted with.... and those I met for the first time You ALL made my experience a memorable one that I am sure will remain in my head till the end ... I may not have ventured out to crack the big ones ....but those I did catch were something else....I will definately be back ... to those who couldnt make it....start saving
Tony
Tony
Love that "greenroom" feeling...(don't panic I finally found it)..... good ole' winki on a good day
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MWROBERTSON
- Legend (Contribution King!)
- Posts: 388
- Joined: Mon Mar 10, 2003 12:17 pm
- Location: Cosat Mesa-CA
North Shore 2005
Well, I just returned home after a fantastic trip to the North Shore. I think this one was the best ever for me for a variety of reasons.
First off, I have to thank Buddy for his gracious ways and allowing a group of hungry kneelos to hang out on his new and beautiful home. I also think he did a great job by posting some tips on surfing the NS and having fun there. On night we had a ragging BBQ where there was plenty of food and drink shared at Buddy's.
A big hats off to Simon too. He was a real gentleman and had such an impact on bringing the whole tribe together by getting the vibe going early for this month long gathering. He was also hot on the camera when he could break away from getting tubed and throwing sheets of spray!
The waves and wheather the whole time were ideal. Quite a bit cooler that the last two trips that I had taken over. It was a pleasant high 70's the whole time and a bit cool in the evening. THE WAVES!!! cranked the whole time too. Right when I got off the plane, my bother Danny and I were promptly picked up by Tom Linn. We unloaded for one evening stay at a place Tom had staked out on the Pupekea sandbar. But before evening, we were in the water surfing fun 3-4ft rocky Point with beautiful water and fun conditions.
Each day provided us with more surf and different spots to go out in. We were able to surf everyday and a variety of go outs.
We surfed-
Rocky Point-Sunset-Velzyland-Puenea Point (spelling?)-Back Yards-That spot on the west side(shhhhhhhhhhhh! on the name) etc. etc.
There was big surf, clean surf, bumpy surf, fun surf, and of course "Crap in your Pants" size surf to anyone that wanted it. I saw David Parkes go out on some of the biggest days at Sunset and KILL it on some cranking right walls. Red went out and got his share of huge Sunset. Simon went out later that same morning, I think on his 7'2''. For God's Sake, the guy goes F_ _ _ing left out there on a Bomb!
Simon later told me his eyes almost popped out of his head he was going so fast down the face of that monster. Barry Baker was charging BackYards like a mad man, logging tons of water time and getting tubes to boot. Mike McGuire on a big afternoon at backyards was going BALLS OUT on these rights that most people wanted no part of! He was streaking through sections and I was praying he did not get caught inside on the paddle back out. Everyone knows you can get crushed as you approach the boneyard. Baden, paddles out on a 7 foooter or something and gets a heavy barrell at BackYards. Robert OToole was there on the camera to record the event. Baden rasied both arms up inside the tube to show how wide open it was.
Many surfed at Backyards or where the group was others went off and did their own thing. The bottom line that I could see is that everyone was having a great time, got plenty of waves and met some new friends.
What a great trip! I'm sure we will do it again next year too.
First off, I have to thank Buddy for his gracious ways and allowing a group of hungry kneelos to hang out on his new and beautiful home. I also think he did a great job by posting some tips on surfing the NS and having fun there. On night we had a ragging BBQ where there was plenty of food and drink shared at Buddy's.
A big hats off to Simon too. He was a real gentleman and had such an impact on bringing the whole tribe together by getting the vibe going early for this month long gathering. He was also hot on the camera when he could break away from getting tubed and throwing sheets of spray!
The waves and wheather the whole time were ideal. Quite a bit cooler that the last two trips that I had taken over. It was a pleasant high 70's the whole time and a bit cool in the evening. THE WAVES!!! cranked the whole time too. Right when I got off the plane, my bother Danny and I were promptly picked up by Tom Linn. We unloaded for one evening stay at a place Tom had staked out on the Pupekea sandbar. But before evening, we were in the water surfing fun 3-4ft rocky Point with beautiful water and fun conditions.
Each day provided us with more surf and different spots to go out in. We were able to surf everyday and a variety of go outs.
We surfed-
Rocky Point-Sunset-Velzyland-Puenea Point (spelling?)-Back Yards-That spot on the west side(shhhhhhhhhhhh! on the name) etc. etc.
There was big surf, clean surf, bumpy surf, fun surf, and of course "Crap in your Pants" size surf to anyone that wanted it. I saw David Parkes go out on some of the biggest days at Sunset and KILL it on some cranking right walls. Red went out and got his share of huge Sunset. Simon went out later that same morning, I think on his 7'2''. For God's Sake, the guy goes F_ _ _ing left out there on a Bomb!
Simon later told me his eyes almost popped out of his head he was going so fast down the face of that monster. Barry Baker was charging BackYards like a mad man, logging tons of water time and getting tubes to boot. Mike McGuire on a big afternoon at backyards was going BALLS OUT on these rights that most people wanted no part of! He was streaking through sections and I was praying he did not get caught inside on the paddle back out. Everyone knows you can get crushed as you approach the boneyard. Baden, paddles out on a 7 foooter or something and gets a heavy barrell at BackYards. Robert OToole was there on the camera to record the event. Baden rasied both arms up inside the tube to show how wide open it was.Many surfed at Backyards or where the group was others went off and did their own thing. The bottom line that I could see is that everyone was having a great time, got plenty of waves and met some new friends.
What a great trip! I'm sure we will do it again next year too.
Just to say thanks to all you guys for the amazing photos I had to stop a 3 week trip to barbados 
so I have lived my trip away through your Noth Shore romp.
Cant wait for Simons new vid, all these amazing shots should be put in a nice glossy Kneelo year book I reckon it would be well thumbed.
Stu.
so I have lived my trip away through your Noth Shore romp.Cant wait for Simons new vid, all these amazing shots should be put in a nice glossy Kneelo year book I reckon it would be well thumbed.
Stu.
Best bit rediscovering my Knee's
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barry
- Legend (Contribution King!)
- Posts: 405
- Joined: Mon Sep 22, 2003 12:37 pm
- Location: Hopefully the Tube
The trip
Greetings to All
I want to start with a BIG THANK YOU to Bud.
I also want to express my Appreciation to all the people who spent time on their trip to take and share photos. Very Nice of you all.
There will be heaps of Good photos and Great video footage from this event.
The North Shore was a Wonderful Experience for me in and out of the water.
The comraderie while on the beach was only out done by the amount of STOKE SHARED while in the water!!!!
I had some magical surf sessions
We did have the opportunity to take several bomb sets on the head
I was fortunate to meet the reef only once at Backyards (lots of close calls)
It was truly challenging to deal with LOTS of water moving at assorted spots
all of which were new to me (first trip to the north shore)
Timing was a key factor on many days!!!!! with the sets/ the crowds/ the landlord
Parkes and I got out of the water at Rockies and an hour later the phone rang with the shark attack news..... Thankfully the fellow was not seriously injured.
It was wonderful to renew old friendships and to make new ones
Thanks to all for participating and sharing their passion for kneeriding.
I want to start with a BIG THANK YOU to Bud.
I also want to express my Appreciation to all the people who spent time on their trip to take and share photos. Very Nice of you all.
There will be heaps of Good photos and Great video footage from this event.
The North Shore was a Wonderful Experience for me in and out of the water.
The comraderie while on the beach was only out done by the amount of STOKE SHARED while in the water!!!!
I had some magical surf sessions
We did have the opportunity to take several bomb sets on the head
I was fortunate to meet the reef only once at Backyards (lots of close calls)
It was truly challenging to deal with LOTS of water moving at assorted spots
all of which were new to me (first trip to the north shore)
Timing was a key factor on many days!!!!! with the sets/ the crowds/ the landlord
Parkes and I got out of the water at Rockies and an hour later the phone rang with the shark attack news..... Thankfully the fellow was not seriously injured. It was wonderful to renew old friendships and to make new ones
Thanks to all for participating and sharing their passion for kneeriding.
Barry
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SFKneelo
Inspiring! Kudos to you all!
Bud, while watching from afar... hats off to another sucessful gathering. Can't say enough about the stoke you're kindling!
The stories just took about six months off my life. Having surfed with many on the trip, I can dream and extrapolate...
Cheers,
Soon-to-be-wrapped-in-onshores...
SFKneelo
Bud, while watching from afar... hats off to another sucessful gathering. Can't say enough about the stoke you're kindling!
The stories just took about six months off my life. Having surfed with many on the trip, I can dream and extrapolate...
Cheers,
Soon-to-be-wrapped-in-onshores...
SFKneelo